The brand new hotel The Sira on Lombok is the only Luxury Collection hotel on the island. We took a closer look at the suites & villas-only hotel for you in the middle of the soft opening. Stay tuned and read what rating the hotel has earned.
Review #64
Table of Contents
Disclaimer:
Unfortunately, between our stay at the hotel and this publication, our laptop and our external database containing all the pictures were stolen during a break-in. Fortunately, we had already backed up all the videos on another computer.
Therefore, for this article we unfortunately have no choice but to work with screenshots from these videos. Accordingly, we apologize for the quality, which does not meet our standards and cannot keep up with the level of our other reviews. Nevertheless, we didn’t want to withhold this review from you.
Thank you for your understanding & have fun reading and discovering!
Location
Located in the far northwest of the Indonesian island of Lombok, the famous three Gili Islands are just off the coast of The Sira and visible from their beach. Lombok is the neighboring island of Bali, but much more relaxed in nature, with more beautiful beaches and known as the island of a thousand mosques. Here it is flatter and the extensive rice fields spread out over the whole island.
Getting there
Of course, you can usually get to Lombok by plane, but you can of course also travel by ferry from one of the other Indonesian islands and even by speedboat from Bali. However, the ferries are really quite old, the distance between the two islands is quite long and the waves are often very high for a small speedboat. I can’t really recommend either and would personally always fly.
Fabi had already been to Thailand for a stopover and arrived from there – I came directly from Germany. Take a look at our two long-haul flights in the brand-new Lufthansa Allegris from Munich to Shanghai and in the A340 – 600 from Frankfurt to Hong Kong. We met in Kuala Lumpur from where we flew on to Lombok on AirAsia and arrived at Bandara International Lombok Airport (LOP) in the very south of the island.
How to get to the resort
As the airport is in the far south and the hotel located in the north, the journey is rather long so we decided to use the transfer offered by the hotel for an extra charge. We simply booked this directly through the hotel a few weeks before our arrival and the friendly employee with a The Sira sign was already waiting for us at the airport exit. Our suitcases were loaded for us and cold water, refreshing towels and small snacks were already waiting for us in the car.
The first third of the journey is along a fairly well-developed highway before you turn off and drive the rest of the way along the beautiful, but only single-lane coastal road through endless palm groves, green jungle, along beautiful bays and through small villages straight to The Sira. The very last section takes you through a small village along a rather worn path.
Check-in
As soon as you enter the hotel grounds, the road becomes brand new again and you arrive at the hotel driveway. There the welcome drums are beaten for you – according to island tradition, this is how warriors are welcomed back from their hunt.
Our suitcases were unloaded and stored before being brought to our suite by the friendly staff. Once we walked towards the reception, we were greeted warmly and escorted the short way to the lobby. At the entrance, the butler responsible for us, Jason, had cold towels ready, welcomed us once again and asked us to sit down. There we were immediately served a welcome drink with small sweets and the various dishes and refreshments were explained to us. Both were inspired by the local food culture and represented the flavors of the island. While we enjoyed the delicacies, our passports were scanned and returned to us a few minutes later.
For the actual check-in, we could choose whether we wanted to do it in the suite or at a different location. We opted for the suite and so Jason went upstairs with us, gave a tour of the suite, showed us around and gave us information about the hotel and the activities. The deposit was also deducted and we were able to book a hotel credit at a special price.
The Sira at a glance
The hotel The Sira was originally built as The Legian Sira (a sister hotel to the Balinese The Legian Seminyak, Sira being the village in which it is located), but never opened. Marriott then decided to acquire the almost completed hotel and open it under the Luxury Collection brand. Until the opening of The Sira, this brand was not represented at all on Lombok and only once on Bali. There is only one other hotel of this brand in the whole of Indonesia, located in Labuan Bajo.
At The Sira, you will find all areas that are accessible to all guests on the first floor of the main building. In addition to the reception and lobby, these also include all restaurants, the bar, the spa and the fitness center. The 46 suites are located on the floors above, divided into 5 buildings of different heights.
To the right of the hotel are the 14 pool villas, divided into four different types. On the beach side you will find the huge, cascading pool and at the top of the middle building is the presidential suite with three rooms and its own pool.
Interestingly, the entrances to the rooms are at the back of the building so that all of them have full sea view, but unfortunately if you want to go from your room to any part of the hotel you always have pass through the reception, which feels a little awkward. You only have direct access to the spa and gym from the back.
Suite
The Sira only offers suites and villas. As usual we booked the cheapest available option – in this case the Ocean View Suite King. Due to our Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status, we were upgraded to the next higher category. The Deluxe Ocean View Suite King was the highest possible category below the Villas and the Presidential Suite. Unfortunately, neither of the latter were available for guests during our stay and during the soft opening no Nightly Upgrade Award could be used.
All suites at The Sira are basically the same size and only differ in terms of their location within the buildings and therefore, of course, the view. Our suite No. 503, was therefore located on the 5th floor and had a slightly wider balcony because it is one of the suites on the side of the building.
Welcome
A really big welcome gift was already waiting for us sitting on the table in the suite. We were given fruit, freshly squeezed juices, various cookies and homemade local sweets. Pretty impressive, don’t you think?
Living room
In the entrance area of the suite, the bathroom is off to the left and straight ahead you get to the actual room. Here it becomes clear that although the room is spacious, it does not actually have the hallmark of a suite – a separate living area. In addition to the fantastic bed, you will also find two sitting areas with chaise longues and a central round table with two armchairs.
The really excellent four poster bed has two slightly softer and two harder pillows, which are all the same size, as well as a cozy but not too warm blanket. On the left of the bedside table you will find an alarm clock with an integrated inductive charging option for your phone or similar. On the right is the telephone and there is a pen and pad.
The large minibar offers everything you could wish for. There is even a high-quality pad coffee machine with a stainless steel look. There is also a kettle available. Coffee, tea and water are available free of charge. All other refreshments and snacks can be purchased.
Bathroom
The beautiful large bathroom opens up into an open room with storage space for suitcases on the left and two built-in wardrobes. Here you will of course also find the usual standards, such as an iron and ironing board, safe, slippers, bathrobes, shoehorn and everything you need to prepare individual items of laundry.
On the right-hand side, there are two spacious washbasins arranged opposite each other, each with one washbasin. Between the two, a bathtub stands freely in the room in front of a window facing the living room. The window can of course be closed with a screen for more privacy.
Turndown
Of course, a hotel like The Sira offers turndown service every evening, where the comforter is folded back and slippers are placed in front of each side of the bed, the curtains are closed, a glass and a bottle of water are placed on the bedside tables. On our last evening, we were even given a small cake in the shape of a cocoa bean as a farewell gift.
View
The beautiful large balcony of the suite not only offers deep sofas on the right and left, where you can relax wonderfully, and a table with two armchairs, but also a fantastic view from the 5th floor overlooking the pool and the beautiful bay, as well as the Gili Islands!
Villas
In addition to the suites located in the 5 main buildings, The Sira also offers 14 pool villas. These are located on the right-hand side of the hotel in a separate area and differ mainly in whether they are placed directly on the beach side or not. There are also villas with two bedrooms and, at the very end of the resort, the Beach House with 3 bedrooms and a huge private pool. Unfortunately, none of the villas were ready at the time of our stay and so we were unable to visit them. Accordingly, there are only pictures showing the outside.
Resort activities
Pool
The huge 70-metre infinity pool at The Sira is built directly on the beach and has two levels. The upper one is a little shorter and covered at both ends so that one half is only shaded, while the other is also protected from the rain. The upper pool cascades picturesquely over almost its entire width into the lower pool.
There are plenty of sun loungers around the pool, you can choose from several areas and can be sure to always find a free option.
Kid´s Pool
At both ends of the upper pool there are very shallow areas with shade where the little ones can splash around.
Beach
The beautiful beach directly in front of the hotel is almost exclusively for hotel guests to use. At the time of our stay, there were only 5 pairs of sun loungers placed on the beach, each equipped with an umbrella, but these were absolutely sufficient for all guests at all times and will certainly be increased when the occupancy rate increases and more guests are expected on the beach. The hotel grounds stretch around the corner of the island and you can take wonderful walks along the turquoise blue water.
Upon arriving at the beach, we were warmly welcomed by a member of staff, towels were placed on our selected loungers and near to immediately two glasses of ice-cold cucumber water, two ice-cold, fragrant towels and two sweet shots were being served to our small table.
This procedure was repeated every time we lay down anywhere on the beach or by the pool. In between, the water was refilled and two new shots with different flavors were brought from time to time. That’s what I call really great service! Really well done dear The Sira crew!
Gym
The smaller gym is located on the first floor and basically offers everything you need for a workout. There are several cardio and strength machines, as well as a free weights area. Unfortunately, some of the machines were out of order at the time of our stay.
Spa
The spa at The Sira is located on the first floor and basement of the left-hand side of the building. The reception, changing rooms and the salon for haircuts, manicures and pedicures, as well as the changing rooms for both sexes, each with its own steam room and sauna with an outdoor area including a pool, are located on the first floor. The four single treatment rooms and the one treatment room for couples are located in the basement, which opens onto the lower pool level at the rear. In the garden there is also an outdoor treatment room for up to two guests, as well as the yoga pavilion.
Epicurian moment
The hotel offers a daily epicurian moment at 18:00 where some staff members invite all guests to enjoy a local delicacy with a traditional drum march from the lobby to the pool.
Restaurants
The Island´s Table
The all-day-dining restaurant at The Sira offers breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. Currently with only one same menu for lunchtime and dinner, offering local dishes and international delicacies with an Asian twist. The large room is equipped with an open kitchen and offers tables in the air-conditioned interior as well as around 10 tables on the covered open-air veranda with a beautiful view over the resort.
The restaurant’s kitchen produces most of the food for all of the hotel’s outlets and is accordingly larger in proportion.
We ate here on both evenings and were served in an extremely friendly but still not yet on the point manner. Unfortunately, the ordered dishes in particular took quite a long time to be prepared. On the second evening there was a mix-up with the dishes due to our special requests, but this was rectified as quickly as possible and Fabi got a whole new meal. After we had finished eating, we were served a homemade mocktail as compensation and offered a dessert on the house – which we thankfully declined due to haven already eaten too much.
Medsa
The pool restaurant was already open at the time of our stay and served Mediterranean dishes for lunch and dinner. We tried a few things here and found everything really delicious. The service is not quite up to scratch here either, but we are sure that everything will improve within the coming months and surely soon everything will run smoothly. All the staff are extremely motivated, very friendly and polite.
Sija
The second pool restaurant was not yet open at the time of our stay, but will be ready within the coming weeks and will then serve Asian specialties.
Glassary
The bar is not yet finished, but will open within the next few weeks.
Breakfast
At The Sira, breakfast is served in the all-day-dining restaurant The Island’s Table in an a la carte only version. You will be greeted warmly at the door and can choose one of the free tables. You are then given a QR code, can choose what you would like from the menu and are then served at your table. If the occupancy rate is higher at certain times in the future, it is planned to offer cold dishes at a small buffet in addition to the dishes from the menu so that the kitchen is relieved a little.
At breakfast, the service was extremely friendly and courteous, as in all serving situations, but unfortunately (still) very slow. We had to wait 15 minutes for our coffee and then another 10 minutes for our food to arrive. However, the quality of all the food and drinks was excellent.
Check-out
We were picked up by our transfer at 11:30 for our journey to the airport and after breakfast we went for one last farewell walk on the beach. On the way back up to our room, we were told that we still had a little of our previously purchased credit left, which was non-refundable, and asked whether we would like two glasses of sparkling wine for it. We thought that was super proactive and gladly accepted the suggestion. Unfortunately, it took quite long for the two glasses of sparkling wine to find their way to our room so that we didn’t manage to finish them before leaving.
We then went downstairs, checked out and settled our bill for the food and drinks we had consumed. Everything was already well prepared and went very quickly and smoothly. We were asked how we had enjoyed our stay and our departure had already been organized.
Costs
For these two nights we redeemed a total of 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and only paid for the food and drinks, as well as the transfer to and from the airport during our stay. The overnight stays were therefore free! As we keep saying: It’s worth collecting points with one of the many loyalty programs!
Onward journey
We also decided to use a transfer organized by the hotel for our departure and were ultimately very grateful for this, as it meant we arrived at the airport on time, even though the main road had become impassable and we had to take a relatively long detour. Our driver guided us through the traffic in a safe and friendly manner and made sure that we wanted for nothing.
Our trip to Bali, Lombok & Hongkong
On the rest of our journey, Garuda Indonesia’s low-cost subsidiary Citilink takes us from Lombok to Bali. From there, we travel on to Hong Kong for two nights on Hong Kong Airlines. There we will stay at the JW Marriott Hong Kong and the W Hong Kong and then fly back to Frankfurt via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines.
So stay tuned and be curious to see what happens next!
Conclusion
The Sira is a great hotel. You get a very high level of service here – it still needs to be polished, but it will be in no time. I am quite sure of that. The general manager has a great vision and the hotel will find its place on the island. The suites are all great and we are really looking forward to seeing what the villas will look like on the inside. The pool is amazing and the sea is beautiful. So everything is great.
Recommendation
We can really recommend The Sira to all groups of guests except business travelers. Not that business travelers aren’t welcome or in good hands here, I just don’t really see why they should use this hotel. However, couples, families and solo travelers are well looked after here.
Hotel Homepage
The Sira – a Luxury Collection Resort and Spa
Rating
We award The Sira 9 out of 10 possible points.
There is only one point deduction for the service, which could be improved, but will certainly get better in the coming months and should then be excellent.
We have deservedly placed the hotel in the luxury segment.
Go there?
A must. If you want to visit Lombok, this hotel is the ideal location for excursions around the northwest area and offers fantastic opportunities to relax.
YouTube Review
Take a look at our YouTube review for more exciting moments. Fabi has also captured more drum moments for you there and, above all, shows you some more footage of the beach villas.
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